Dispelling nutrition myths, ranting, and occasionally, raving

Top 10 Nutrition Quacks to Follow

Back in March, for Nutrition Month, my friend Emma featured a series of interviews with dietitians and others on her blog. Something I noticed when reading these interviews struck me. When posed the question: “What’s your favourite food/drink that The Food Babe says you shouldn’t consume?” many people provided variations on the answer that they don’t pay any heed to what The Food Babe says.

I understand that response from the standpoint of not wanting to give the time of day to nutribabble. No publicity is bad publicity, right? Still, I tend to believe that it’s important to know thine enemy. Even though I’m loathe to give clicks to these self-proclaimed nutrition gurus I think that it’s more important for me to know what information people are reading so that I can combat it with the facts. So, in no particular order, if you too want to know who to ignore nutrition advice from or what nonsense is being spread, here are my top 10 nutrition quacks:

The Food Babe

Gwyneth Paltrow/pretty much any celebrity

Pete Evans

David Wolfe

David Perlmutter/William Davis/anybody else who says that wheat is the devil

Dr Oz

Any “nutritionist” who claims to have “cured” their “incurable” autoimmune disease through diet

Joseph Mercola

Nina Teicholz

Freelee Banana Girl

I know that there are many others out there. If you can think of others who you think should be on this list please feel free to add them in the comments!

14 thoughts on “Top 10 Nutrition Quacks to Follow”

I find it so so sad that I’ve heard of all those people and read stuff from them (usually through shared posts on Facebook from unknowing friends). I’m going to assume that as a dietitian it must be even more cringe-inducing when you read their claims!

Anyone who claims to have cured advanced cancer — CURED not prevented — with a special diet. When i had stage IV throat cancer, the recommendations to me included: 1) soursop leaf tea 2) coconut water in huge quantities [i had throat cancer, so the helpful suggestion was to take the coconut water intravenously] 3] eat tone of pineapple cuz it has a cancer-killing enzyme in it 4] eliminate all acidic foods [including pineapple i guess] to restore the alkalinity of my body 5] eliminate sugar from my diet to stop feeding the cancer. I was even accused of being a “shill for Big Pharma” because i elected to go with chemo and radiation (and later surgery) to deal with the disease. Six years later, i’m still cancer-free (knock on wood) and eating a very healthful diet, which includes pineapple, coconut water on occasion and i’ve even tried soursop leaf tea (not bad). I do avoid added sugar … but always did. I’m convinced a of of the dietary regimens out there simply fill a human need for ritual and structure and some sense of control over one’s destiny. Much like religion does for people.

I fee like the true threat though is mixed misinformation. One can say don’t listen to any of these individuals anytime ever – but who should people listen to? People want information which is why they end up believing misinformation. I agree that most of these people on this list belong here… But it’s hard to deny even some quacks get a thing right every once in a while. When your spewing so much information, your bound to be right once or twice. And I think people resonate with that, and start to find things that work for them – but Unfortunately also get a lot of misinformation along the way. I think one of the major problems is that much of the nutritional babble is rooted in a piece of truth – but then turns to broad claims that lack scientific support. Typically we see anecdotal support if anything. And few people understand that differentiation, let alone the importance of science in this way. It’s these experts who make broad sweeping statements or conclusions that scare me. Because it indicates a lack of understanding or respect for the science that is at the foundation.